Since its founding in 1986, the NFLC has been at the center of national language policy and language resource development. Even before the NFLC was created, thought leaders such Richard Lambert, Richard Brecht, and A. Ronald Walton were influencing how policy makers were viewing language as an important facet of our complicated world. This brief timeline puts the history of the NFLC and our leadership in the context of world events and important language related policy papers